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I spent 2 days with two $500,000,000 founders + their team and got to steal all their secrets If you haven't heard of Alex Hormozi and Leila Hormozi, and you're in business, stop what you're doing and check them out. For years, they've been producing some of the highest quality business content you can find on the Internet. Did I mention they've exited 3 companies for over $100M and now run a portfolio of companies valued at >$500M 🤯 And little old me got to spend 2 days with them and their world class team at their Acquisition.com Vegas headquarters (im spoiled) It was nothing less than mind-blowing... 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺: It was probably the highest ROI I've ever gotten from spending money on education. While I'm still chewing through all the information I got there... This is mostly for me to remember, but here are 3 of the biggest lessons I learned: 1️⃣ the WHO matters more than the WHAT "You're one hire away from having the business of your dreams" The Acquisition team was nothing short of world class It was incredibly apparent that while Alex and Leila are both phenoms themselves, they're also surrounded by other gangsters Everyone there could easily be running their own 8-figure plus business themselves Need to place even more emphasis on the WHO behind our businesses 2️⃣ Data is king Before going in, I actually thought we were doing decent with our data collection WRONG "If you're not tracking it, you don't care about it" - Alex Hormozi Their firm uses data to understand a business and only from a data perspective do they drive value creation It's how they make every decision, it's how they run their $500M portfolio Need to get even more granular there 3️⃣ There is only one fire to put out at a time The Hormozi's espouse a Theory of Constraints model: There is only one major constraint within a business Solving that constraint allows the business to grow dramatically Repeat. As an entreprenuer it always feels like there are 1,000 different things to work on, but using their data driven approach you can actually figure out what you need to focus on And then ruthlessly solve it. ---- I'm honestly still processing all the info I got - can't wait to share more of my learnings along my journey with y'all. Give me a follow to collect this wisdom 🙏

A great share with 3 key lessons to takeaway: 1. The WHO matters most 2. Data is king - use to drive decisions 3. Put out one fire at a time

I founded Haven in March 2023. In < 1 year we've acquired 100+ customers with $0 of outside capital. Here are the 5 key strategies I used to bootstrap my way to profitability: 1. Niche down and solve a painful problem    You can't be everything to everyone. Rather than being a generic accounting firm, I focused Haven exclusively on startups and fast-growing businesses. As a former operator, I understood their unique challenges and wanted to build a product addressing their specific pain points. 2. Prioritize customer experience     Traditional firms often treat clients as an afterthought. At Haven, exceptional customer experience is our core ethos. That's why every client gets a dedicated Slack channel - so they can easily ask questions and get quick responses. We believe in treating clients like VIPs. 3. Leverage your network     When I started Haven, we had zero clients. But I had a strong network from my years working in startups to leverage to get warm intros to potential clients. Within a few months, word-of-mouth referrals became our top source of new business. 4. Hire smart and delegate     In the early days, I wore all the hats. But to truly scale Haven, I needed to build a team of animals. Bringing on rockstar accountants and ops talent fuel and giving them autonomy has been key to our growth. 5. Stay focused     As a founder, it's easy to get pulled in every direction I've learned the importance of saying no and staying focused. By doubling down on what's working and not chasing every shiny object, we've been able to grow rapidly without sacrificing quality. --- Bootstrapping Haven to profitability in under a year has been a wild ride with plenty of challenges. But by obsessing over customer experience, leveraging my network, building a great team, and staying disciplined, we've been able to hit and surpass our goals. We're still early in our journey to modernize accounting for startups, and I'm excited to share more learnings along the way. 

🚨 Do you have the right data room strategy? And if you’re a Series A company ➡️ focus on the right side Initially I thought of a data room as pretty standard set of folders → Company docs → Investment docs → Financial docs → Customer docs → Product docs But we can do better 💪 The point of your data room is to support the narrative you’re selling and to help investors build conviction So I like to think of your data room strategy in two parts 1️⃣ The standard (boring) background stuff 2️⃣ The parts that support your narrative Okay, let’s start with the standard stuff (with a twist) 🏠 Home Directory I like to keep this directory simple → Pitch Deck → Investment Memo → Financial Memo Now the trick here is that the Deck, the Memo and the Model all line up to tell the exact same narrative, in the exact same way And the twist is including a video walk through of your model and how to run different scenarios That way if you’re running a proper process, it’ll save you a TON of time and avoid a lot of 'can we jump on the phone to walk through it' 👍 Next up is just the standard check the box kind of folders 🏭 Company Details 🧳 Board Meetings But I also like to include previous board meetings & shareholder updates because it’s a glimpse into how you execute and narrative of your momentum over time Now, let’s lay the foundation for the "unique to you" folders 😃 Customers What can you add that will show you have truly happy customers? Because the next two folders are all about how we’re building factories that’ll spit out more happy customers in a repeatable and scalable way Somewhere in your seed/series A narrative is a venture growth story → Which means at around $1M-$3M ARR you’ll start scaling 10% month over month for 24 months straight And you’ll probably say something like: → most of that growth will come from… → and some will come from… So now we include two folders to back those two things up 🚀 [Growth #1] 🚀 [Growth #2] So what can you include that’ll help investors build conviction around those growth levers? Now obviously Series A companies will have more here But these folders are still important for Seed stage companies to help investors build conviction that you’ll make it to Series A 🚘 Product Vision And then finally, this again is pretty standard (but also unique to you) Two things I find helpful here: → a very detailed competitive landscape → a video demo of a customer journey through the product Building a data room strategy is one of my favourite things to do with a startup because it's really just the details behind your venture scale story 👏 -- ♻️ Repost to help a founder in your network Click 'visit my website' at the top of this post to register for my Seed to Series A session

🚀 Kruze Consulting Clients Are Twice as Likely to Be Acquired! 🌟 Exciting news from the Kruze team: our clients are acquired at DOUBLE the rate of the average startup! We've always believed that our unique approach to startup accounting, tax, and CFO services gave our clients an edge - but seeing the hard data prove it is incredibly rewarding. So, what's the secret sauce? Here are a few key ingredients: 🔷 Metrics that matter: Founders choose Kruze because they know they’ll get the numbers and metrics to manage their business. It’s not surprising that metrics-driven founders with CPA quality numbers perform better. 🔷 Diligence-ready financials: Our team keeps your books and records in rock-solid condition, so you're always prepared for due diligence. And exit diligence can come out of nowhere, fast - trust us, we see it pretty much every month! 🔷 Fundraising support: From nailing your financial model to preparing for investor questions, we get you ready to get funding. Since you’re more likely to be in business if you are funded, you are more likely to get acquired. The proof is in the data - and in the incredible stories of our clients' success. We're so proud to be part of their journey, and we can't wait to work alongside new founders as they achieve their dreams. Read the link in the 1st comment to learn how we calculated the data. Founders, if you're ready to join the ranks of our high-achieving clients, let's chat. We make your startup's success our top priority.

Is this the investor equivalent of “eating your own dog food?” 🐶 Since its release last month, I find myself turning to our book Scaling Through Chaos multiple times a week. It's a treasure trove of data for anyone working with or in fast-growing organisations. For example, last week, an entrepreneur asked me whether he should hire a General Counsel for his company, currently under 125 employees. My first-hand experience suggested that, given the company’s profile, he most likely did not. The data from the book confirmed it. According to our research, the majority of the fastest-growing companies over the past 15 years did not have a General Counsel at that stage. Only those in highly regulated industries, or those dealing with international complexities or specific intellectual property issues, required senior legal expertise earlier. There are three factors that influence when to hire a General Counsel: 🌪️ Business complexity—Are you in a regulated field like fintech or healthcare, or a semi-regulated one like the sharing or gig economy? Do you have a large percentage of customers or employees outside the US (or your home country)? Is there a risk of injury or serious consequences if your product fails or is misused? 🚀 Business velocity—How fast are you growing revenue or headcount (e.g. >50% year-on-year)? 🥷 Operational strength of your executive team—Do you have experienced operators yet in the CFO and Chief People Officer roles? If the answers to 1 and 2 are yes, then a GC hire could make sense between 51–250 headcount. If the answer to 3 is also yes, you may be able to hire a Head of Legal instead, and delay hiring a GC until you are over 500 headcount. If your answers to 1 and 2 are no, you might not need a GC until you are much closer to an IPO. If your answer to 3 is also yes, then you may not need a GC at all. Data alone doesn't replace the experience of board members, but it adds depth to the discussion and can support founders facing important decisions. So, the next time you have questions about organisational design and team scaling—whether it's about hiring a CFO, deciding when to delegate product ownership, or the eight things you can do as a CEO to create personal leverage— check out Scaling Through Chaos and TeamPlan (links in comments). While they won't provide THE definitive answer (there is no such thing), they will offer data-driven insights to guide your decision-making. You're welcome!

8/10 scale-ups I work with suffer from silos and lack of focus. It’s almost inevitable. Going from startup to scale-up, all the attention goes to acquiring, onboarding, and retaining new customers. Meanwhile, the median headcount grows 10x between Series A and D (Carta). That's bound to cause some friction. There’s no magic formula to fix this overnight. But there is something simple that costs 0,00 and usually helps. ✨ 𝗔 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 ✨ And if you are like me you now think: but over-focusing on one metric leads to other problems! And what about the roles and responsibilities of each department? Yes and yes. Not ONE metric, only a most important one. 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: 1/ Makes the flywheel fly. Doing this well makes everything easier. A hint: usually it’s your customer achieving what they hoped for with your product. That leads to more proven value, more referrals, and more customers. 2/ Not revenue or profit. Chasing these may lead to short-term impacts that hurt the long term. E.g. you could simply raise prices or stop investing in better product features. 3/ Visible and alive. Have quarterly reviews about it. Award champions who impact it. Have a visual metaphor of it around the office. 4/ Everyone’s on board. Each department can explain and measure how they impact the North Star (yes, even legal, finance, HR) Do you have a North Star? Is there anything I need to add to this checklist? PS: Matt Lerner recently published a book that covers North Stars in a great way. It’s short and gets to the point. Get it!

Want to take a good laugh at me? I never knew the difference between negotiating and engineering until recently I have barely worked with the corporate sector. I have worked the role of a tester. I have worked the role of a data analyst. Since then I have only had the startup world dilemma I just did basically what most engineers do Seal the deal the moment I had interested prospects The option of negotiating a term sheet never really occurred to me I saw the title “NEGOTIATING TERMS” on one client document And I was like “what the heck does that mean?” Does that mean I can put across my terms as well? It can’t be, what are they to gain from this? I mean isn’t that the job of dealers and brokers? Not exactly Then of course I had to google. Then I saw “Best tips to negotiate a term sheet”. What’s that? To close the deal in just 40 minutes instead of 40 days. WHAT? HOW? 🟢 Tip number one: Have your co-founders and partner's advise, your advisory board too. 🟢 Tip number two: Only possible when you have multiple investors fighting to invest in your startup. 🟢 Tip number three: Have an attorney lined up And oh boy! Has my life gotten easy since then! —---------------------------------- Hey, I’m Mohit Srivastava! Follow me for more tips on product development and technology. I offer valuable, knowledge-driven, and actionable advice on current trends. Want to develop your product and launch in 2024? I help Founders make their dream projects come true, by helping them with everything that is “tech”. #startuplife #businessconsulting #negotiation #termsheet #entrepreneurship #productmarketfit

He and his co-founder had their roles eliminated from their VC backed startup. Faced with rejoining corporate America, they decided to go a different route: Starting their own data & analytics consulting firm. Was it an overnight success? Not exactly. 3-months in: they land their first client…only to have the contract abruptly canceled a few weeks later. Early on, they often thought about quitting and looking for jobs. But they decided to stick with it. 6-months in: they land a big contract with a client they had “no business pitching let alone winning”. This first large contract was for analytics staff-augmentation…not exactly what they wanted to do. But it gave them enough revenue to make their first hire. 12-months in: they finally land their target client to provide their target solution. This was the basis for everything they’ve built since. By year 2, they were able to replace their salaries. Since then, they’ve DOUBLED revenue each year. Read more about how Nicholas Newby and his partner Anthony Wong built NuView analytics. We unpack how they got clients in the early days and how they get them now. Plus, how focusing on their niche has helped them get traction and streamline delivery. Check it out in the latest edition of data founder chronicles in the comments below. -- P.S. Know someone I should interview? Or are you that someone? Reply in the comments or shoot me a DM!

When Chandu Thota and I first started The Dealmap, we used to argue…a lot. We worked in such a small, open office that we didn’t want the team to hear us arguing. So, we’d retreat to my car to hash it out—like parents trying to shield their kids from a fight. (It wasn’t quite Deadpool and Wolverine in the Honda Odyssey-level fighting, but sometimes it felt like it.) We would argue about core foundational issues, and one of our biggest points of contention was our vastly different management styles. Chandu came from Microsoft, where structure and hierarchy were the norm. I came from Yahoo, where ideas bubbled up from all corners, and gathering input before making a decision was a part of the culture. He’d often ask me, “Why don’t you just tell people what to do?” And I’d say, “I’m not going to assume I have all the answers—I want to hear from others before deciding.” We’d also go at it about the value of design when it came to our product. Chandu used to say, “Design is just icing on the cake.” I’d argue, “Design is the cake—it’s what makes our products easy and delightful to use!” Both of us were passionate about our company’s success, we just disagreed about how to ensure that success. Over time, though, we began to see each other’s perspectives, and our vision for the company became more and more aligned. We stayed curious and learned from each other. Our fights became debates, then our debates became thoughtful conversations, and our thoughtful conversations forged a deep trust and unbreakable bond. In the last year before we sold the company, we were in lockstep. Instead of arguing in the car, we’d go out to eat (Chandu always ordered coffee and fries) to work through our biggest decisions. I’m forever grateful to Chandu. He took a chance on me when he brought me in as CEO after his original co-founder departed. He was a great partner, especially as I learned the ropes of being a first time CEO, and he pushed me to be better every day. His tough questions made me think harder and gain more clarity about our path forward, and his brilliant product mind helped us build revolutionary products that were ahead of their time. (We trained our own AI models way back in 2010, and much of this work lives on inside Google now.) To this day, we are still close and he is one of my most trusted advisors. We continue to learn from each other, and we have both evolved our positions and beliefs over time. (He has long since agreed that design is cake, not just icing). Relationships with healthy conflict have ways of making us better. When we stay open-minded, we challenge and push each other to grow. Who is a person in your life who challenged you to look at your work differently? — This post is part of a Gratitude Series where I thank people who have made a difference in my life. Gratitude makes us happier and more resilient. Try out this fun team development exercise using our free Gratitude Kit: https://lnkd.in/gx4_iynN.